Legislators' report card: The good and the ugly of Pennsylvania's final session days

AP Photo/Seth PerlmanKudos to the state Senate for letting the payday lending bill die.

It was a sprint to the finish last week as the General Assembly wrapped up its two-year session. Here’s our take on what it did right and where it went wrong in the final flurry of votes. Several bills await Gov. Tom Corbett’s signature, meaning he could veto them.

RIGHT CALLS

The payday loan bill was dropped (HB 2191). This bill would have legalized so-called “payday loans” that charge people in excess of 300 percent interest. It’s a horrible practice that gets people into debt traps and is illegal in Pennsylvania — even online. President George W. Bush signed a law forbidding payday loans to military personnel because it was a national security issue. We do not want this industry here in Pennsylvania. Kudos to Sen. Pat Vance, R-Cumberland, and the others who stopped this bill.

Justice reinvestment passed (HB 135): Kudos to the Legislature for passing this measure that could go a long way toward reforming Pennsylvania’s prison system. Called justice reinvestment, the legislation provides a way to use funding, which will be saved through prison reforms passed this year, for grants that police departments can use for new strategies, officer training and professional accreditation. The goal of the legislation is to cut down on state prison costs, improve public safety across the state and decrease the number of inmates in our state prisons — especially inmates who have addictions — from re-entering the corrections system.

Straw gun purchases curtailed (HB 898): It is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to buy a gun. But people get around the ban by purchasing guns through someone else, a practice known as straw purchases. The Legislature correctly restored a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for anyone convicted of making repeat straw purchases of firearms. The bill was needed because of a 2009 state Supreme Court ruling that eliminated the mandatory sentence. If there was any better example of how important it is, we don’t have to look any further than the tragic death of Montgomery County Police Officer Brad Fox, shot by a man with a felony record who bought guns from a straw purchaser.

Wiretap Act updated (HB 2400): The General Assembly voted on much-needed updates to the Wiretap Act to reflect new technologies used by victims and criminals. Under the law, which had not been changed for 14 years, if a victim records a violent crime, it cannot be used as evidence. The need for the change became brutally clear in 2009 when a 16-year-old girl secretly recorded her adopted father raping her. Police told her the recording couldn’t be submitted as evidence. The changes also will reflect the fact that criminals, especially drug dealers, use multiple phones. Now, law enforcement must get separate orders issued by a judge to cover each mobile device that a suspect has. This makes no sense, especially in an age of throwaway phones.

The “cash for parks” bill was stopped (HB 2224). This legislation essentially took a sledgehammer to a problem that required a small screwdriver to fix — if that. The bill would have made it much easier to sell local parks and other public lands — even to private developers. The legislation was crafted to aid a special situation in Chester County, but it would have applied statewide. We applaud the Senate for ending this bill.

WRONG CALLS

Passage of the sexting law (HB 2189). There’s almost universal agreement that sexting — the sending of nude or semi-nude photos or video via cell phone messages — is a bad idea, especially among minors. But this bill, which is awaiting Gov. Tom Corbett’s signature, would criminalize sexting. Any nude photo a teenager sends that makes its way to authorities would result in some sort of legal charge, even if it was from a misguided teenager to a girlfriend or boyfriend. Dragging kids into court is not always the best solution.

“Promoting Employment Across Pennsylvania” bill flew through the Legislature (HB 2626). Everyone wants to stimulate the economy and create more jobs, but this bill is not the way to do it. Employers would be able to keep up to 95 percent of newly hired Pennsylvania workers’ state tax payments. It’s akin to paying a boss for a job. The incentive would be in place for too long — until 2018 — and experiences in other states suggest most companies that take advantage of this are along state borders, creating a tax incentive war that doesn’t yield great benefits.

Charter school reforms didn’t happen (SB 1115): For the third time, lawmakers had a chance to pass much-needed provisions to improve the charter school system in Pennsylvania, but failed. The legislation would have created a performance matrix to measure charter school academic achievement, and, for the first time, a requirement for an evaluation system for charter school teachers. It also included a provision that could have helped with an issue public school districts have complained about for years by establishing a commission to study and recommend a new formula for funding charter schools.